Unemployment Insurance Deal Passes Senate

The Kentucky Senate has passed an amended bill that would help the state repay interest on a federal unemployment insurance loan.

And despite concerns that the Senate amendments would derail the proposal, the bill’s original House sponsor has agreed to the changes.

The amendment by Senator David Givens would defer an increase in the taxes employers pay on wages once the unemployment insurance fund is healthy again. Givens tacked that change onto a bill that would allow the state to borrow money virtually in-house in order to repay interest payments on a more than 900 million dollar federal loan.

But the senator says he got all parties involved to sign onto his changes.

“Representative Clark and the labor groups are on board with the changes we made. Secretary Joe Meyer has been working with them in addition and I appreciate the work of all the parties involved,” Givens says.

Givens says the changes will help employers when the state can afford to do so.

“The reason it’s important is to show to our business community that we really appreciate our job creators. In addition we were able to do it in a way that did not imperil labor,” he says.

The Senate passed the amended plan today. It now goes to the House for agreement before heading to Governor Steve Beshear’s desk.